As NYC DOE school nurses, our utmost concern is that of the school children who are entrusted to our care on a daily basis. The nursing shortage in New York City schools has reached “crisis level” as dozens of school buildings each day are forced to go without the benefit of a full-time nurse. School nurses are licensed to follow doctors orders  administer medications, provide treatments,  as well as provide emergency care and first aid to the high volume of daily walk-ins to our medical rooms. Children come in to our NYC public schools with a broad spectrum of health needs and concerns. Continuity of daily care is paramount in order for these students to achieve their best academic outcome.

Our UFT Chapter is always working for our benefit. Our union works with us and leaves items on the table for our continuous input and consideration in the hopes of building bridges that can lead to positive results within our next contract. We believe that by bringing our appeal to the forefront we will be able to ultimately improve our salary and longevity pay which will in effect lead to eliminating our nursing shortage. 

Supervisors are often left attempting to cover school nurse shortages by shuffling nurses around to different schools throughout the day.  This puts children in NYC schools at risk. Our students deserve better! At times children are left to go without their medications, are forced to stay home, or parents need to leave their jobs to run to the school to administer their child's medication.

Why is there such a severe nurse shortage in NYC public schools? NYC school nurses are leaving their positions due to the unfair salary and lack of fair longevity increases. Other NYC organizations are not skipping salary steps the way NYC DOE does with its nurses. These discrepancies are noted in our salary and pay scales.

We are public school-based Staff Nurses asking the City of New York for fair pay comparable with other healthcare nurses in NYC based positions. 
We ask the city to act in good faith and compensate us fairly for our level of training, length of time employed, and the necessary work we perform each and every school day. We are the only health professionals in the school building. Our medical knowledge, decision making strategies impact the lives of children day in and out. The latest employment contract offered by the city fails to bridge the pay gap between us and our colleagues in the DOE. Our hope is to gain parity, resolve the school nursing shortage and ultimately hire and keep nurses who will provide the much needed medical care that only they can preform. School nurses should be a non-negotiable resource to keep students healthy, in school and ready to learn.